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Monday, December 24, 2007

Travel tips

Did you know that airline carriers are required to release new airfares to a clearinghouse called the Airline Tariff Publishing Company at certain hours? On weekdays, the best times to look for new and discounted fares are just after 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and midnight. Travel agents know that tickets that were reserved but never paid usually reappear just after midnight, so the selection peaks during the late night hours. But for weekends, don't kill yourself logging in every few hours, they're only updated once a day, around 5pm.

Check the booking fees. Most online search engines like Orbitz and Expedia have booking fees, while the airlines do not. Once you've found your fare, check directly with the airlines to see if it might be slightly cheaper. To those who find booking online a nuisance and would rather talk to a human, keep in mind that the booking fees will be even more expensive than the online fees, and you could miss out on Internet only fares. Delta, and just about any other airline, won't book a fare at a special Internet rate advertised on their site, no matter how many times you ask. You'll end up saving anywhere from $5 to a few hundred with online booking.

Always be prepared to get bumped. If you don't have a big budget for travel, always be eager, and even pray, to get bumped from your flight. Or volunteer to take a later flight so someone else won't get bumped. In exchange, you'll be compensated with an airline voucher, often moved up to first class on your next flight, and possibly even get a free hotel stay if you fly out the next day. Don't worry about holding out for a more expensive voucher. If the airlines are looking for 4 seats and you volunteer right away for a $300 ticket, and then ten minutes later it goes up to $400 for the remaining 3 seats, your voucher will go up too. Just double check with the agent at the desk when you volunteer to ensure this is their policy. If you're the only person volunteering and the airline only needs 1 seat, wait for the amount to go up. Just keep hovering by the desk and wait to see how high it will get so you can jump on it the second you see someone else considering it.

Did you know the brilliant people at kayak.com devised a way to spend less time on the phone and more time traveling? Try Gethuman.com to find a list of loopholes in customer service to reach real live humans. For Orbitz, hit the # key four times to bypass all the automated phone garbage.

Always double check the airline code shares before purchasing a ticket. Delta and Alitalia are code share partners and are free to set their own prices for tickets. You could end up saving several hundred dollars booking with Alitalia to the same destination Delta is offering on their site. Just about every airline has some kind of code share partner, so when booking on a site like Orbitz or Expedia, always check the fine print to see who the airline is actually operating with, then go to that operating partner for a cheaper fare.

The Internet is (shockingly) not the end-all be-all of travel. Many tour companies, travel agents, and vacation destinations will advertise dirt-cheap airfare in the newspaper (try the Sunday section). Other airline and tourist vendors will negotiate discounts directly with a travel agent to ensure volume booking.

If you're going to rent a car, check your own car insurance first. Many times, your own personal insurance will cover you against damages on a rental. If you're not aware of this, you'll get suckered into paying for unnecessary add-ons and nearly double the cost of your car. Also check Priceline and other booking engines for cheap rentals, where unbooked inventory is dumped at a fraction of the cost. (I once rented a small Geo in LA for $8 a day through Orbitz). Always book the least expensive car, no matter what. Almost always, economy cars are booked first anyway, meaning the car rental company will run out and be forced to give you a free upgrade to a fancier version.

flying stand-by, which was good and bad. You pay almost nothing for your flight, but you usually have to go on the first flight out to get a seat (6am), have to get to the airport earlier than other passengers, flights are frequently full, spend hours waiting for an open flight, and we often had to split up and take separate flights. But when I grew up and stopped getting Dad's travel perks, I still used stand-by status to get the most out of my travel. How? Once I paid for a ticket, I'd leave for the airport as scheduled. If I ended up getting to the airport early, or didn't want to connect and wished I had bought a through flight with no connections, I'd simply show up at a gate for an earlier flight. The flight has to be with the same airline you purchased a ticket with and be going to the same airport. Simply ask if they have available seats on the flight. Some airlines will charge $25 on up for this, others will just give it to you free. Keep in mind you may not get a seat until after they close the door to the Jetway, but just keep waiting until the agent has said the flight is officially closed. But if your flights are too close together, don't risk missing your real flight.

Another stand-by trick? I've never tried this as the airlines do not look kindly on it. Reserve a coach seat for your flight and arrive at the airport the day of your flight and see if you can get a standby ticket. If you do get a standby seat, you'll become a no-show on your reservation and get a full-refund if you've made a refundable reservation. It's easier to do this on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but it is tricky and few try it because travel plans are rarely that flexible and if the airlines figure out what you're doing, you could face some trouble. Keep in mind most airlines will outright cancel your itinerary if you're no-show, meaning your flight home could be nixed.

Always ask for a seat assignment. Most booking engines and airlines will allow you to do this when you purchase tickets. Pick seats near the front to cut up to 15 minutes off your schedule and avoid annoying waits in the back of the plane. Need extra room? Emergency exit rows are best because they have the most leg room (though children under 12 are not permitted to sit here, and they will move you once you've boarded). Keep in mind these rows often have seats that do not recline for safety reasons, so ask the airline about this in advance if it's an issue for you. You can also ask for bulk-head (the row directly behind first class), but there is no under the seat storage in these rows and the flight attendants will make you put your purse or anything else in the overhead bins during take-off and landing. Regardless of where you sit, make sure you have a seat at the time of booking. Sometimes airlines will overbook and while there's usually enough no-shows and cancellations to accommodate everyone, sometimes you'll find yourself stuck without a seat, end up in the dreaded middle seat, or sit way in the back.

Always ask for a seat assignment. Most booking engines and airlines will allow you to do this when you purchase tickets. Pick seats near the front to cut up to 15 minutes off your schedule and avoid annoying waits in the back of the plane. Need extra room? Emergency exit rows are best because they have the most leg room (though children under 12 are not permitted to sit here, and they will move you once you've boarded). Keep in mind these rows often have seats that do not recline for safety reasons, so ask the airline about this in advance if it's an issue for you. You can also ask for bulk-head (the row directly behind first class), but there is no under the seat storage in these rows and the flight attendants will make you put your purse or anything else in the overhead bins during take-off and landing. Regardless of where you sit, make sure you have a seat at the time of booking. Sometimes airlines will overbook and while there's usually enough no-shows and cancellations to accommodate everyone, sometimes you'll find yourself stuck without a seat, end up in the dreaded middle seat, or sit way in the back.

It doesn't hurt to complain. Don't be a jerk to hotel concierge, but don't be afraid to make some noise, either. If your non-smoking room smells like smoke, complain about it and mention what a special occasion this trip was suppose to be. If you're next to a noisy ice maker or have loud guest next door, complain. You're likely to get a free upgrade if it's available (it costs them nothing to make you feel better by moving you to an otherwise empty room). If something goes wrong in your trip, make notes. I was once in a wedding and stayed at a Marriott where the hot water went out the next morning. The front desk kept telling me the hot water would be back on in 20 minutes, and 3 hours later, it still wasn't. Because I had been in the wedding, I had tons of leftover gel and hairspray in my hair. I ended up washing up with warm water I heated up in the coffee maker, which was extremely irritating. After I got home, I wrote a detailed complaint letter (including that the staff had promised me hot water numerous times and my coffee maker bath) and was given a 100% refund the same day. Just make sure and email your complaints to the headquarters of the hotel you stayed at first, which can be found on their main website. They'll deal with the local hotel themselves and you're more likely to get a positive response. I've also gotten $25 - $150 airline vouchers for complaining.

Check out FareCompare.com for Yup or Q-up fares, which are first class seats that are seldom much more expensive than a walk-up coach fare. Until now, few were ever advertised to the public, but somehow farecompare has the skinny and you can take advantage of it. Don't forget to check first-class when you book. Most assume it's thousands of dollars, but often there's deals that are actually -less- than coach. Airtarn frequently has decent deals in business class on all their flights.

To avoid long waits at the airport, log onto waittime.tsa.dhs.gov first. It will give you the wait time of every security checkpoint in every US airport. You might find the T-gate security at the Atlanta airport is nonexistent compared to its main gates. Simply get on the airport tram and speed over to your correct gate and save time. Always print out your boarding pass from home or use the self check-in kiosks at the airport to cut down on your wait.